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Key Details
Type
UnderworldMythology
Egyptian Pantheon
Realm
Mythological / Non-physical
About This Location
Night road of the sun
The Duat is the Egyptian underworld through which Ra's night barque sails, hour by hour, in the Amduat and Book of Gates. The dead need names, passwords, and offerings from the Book of the Dead. Osiris sits in judgment; Apophis waits to swallow the sun. It is mapped on tomb walls, not on a civic street. Geography is liturgical: caverns, gates, fire, water. There is no single novel of the Duat, only illustrated itineraries for kings and, later, officials.
Primary Sources
“The sky-goddess Nut receives the sun in the west, and he travels the Duat to be born again in the east.”
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